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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To lie about my location to the holiday accommodation?

409 replies

Rae34 · 21/09/2020 23:45

I am single and live alone so this period has been very difficult. I have also worked from home since March and have been very careful with who I see and where I go. Just took my temperature there & normal. About 99% sure I am virus free.

Anyway I had booked 3 days in a cottage by the seaside, about 2 hours drive. I am an artist and have been so looking forward to finishing my project and getting some breathing space before what lies before us in the next season.

The booking.com accommodation has just been in touch asking where I am coming from because I am in a restricted area they will not accommodate me any longer. Well sadly I am in such an area. AIBU to tell a white lie and say I'm coming from the next city over (which is not affected)?

I have been so, so careful and was so looking forward to a short break. Also doubt I'd get a refund and it wasn't cheap.

OP posts:
Lunar567 · 22/09/2020 08:12

The rules are based on false data as "the scientists" didn't take into account false positive results.
The vast majority of people are virus free and cannot infect. Even if you are asymptomatic you are not infectious.
You should do what is best for you. If that means a lie so be it.
Don't worry about it.

WhatWouldJKRDo · 22/09/2020 08:13

It isn’t about breaking the Government’s rules.

If the accommodation provider has decided it’s not worth the risk to them and their other customers to have people from a C19 hotspot to stay, that’s fair enough.

They will have to refund you because they are breaking your booking contract, but they are making a decision on what’s an acceptable risk for their business.

You would be very unreasonable to lie in those circumstances.

FlatandFabulous · 22/09/2020 08:13

I'm sorry but you are not telling a "white lie" , you are telling a premeditated lie in the middle of a pandemic (that could land you with a prison sentence where I live) and the posters here who urge you to go for it and ignore the people giving you sensible advice are the reason the UK is fucked. I have total sympathy with your situation but unfortunately right now that's how it is.

saraclara · 22/09/2020 08:17

Why are so many people giving OP grief for "breaking the rules"?
She's NOT BREAKING ANY RULES OR ANY GUIDANCE. She's doing what she's allowed to do. This is a random instruction by booking.com or the property owner, not by government.

Stop with the knee jerk "you're part of the problem". She isn't, any more than you or I.

Daisydoesnt · 22/09/2020 08:19

I just looked at booking.com and it says if you book non refundable, as I did, they dont need to refund you

OP I had exactly this situation in mid-March, although I was the Booking.com property owner.

I had B&B guests booked to stay with us, but we didn't want them to come as we had a rough idea how events would unfold! But as a host I don't have the ability to cancel a booking. I requested/ invited the guests to cancel, and when they did I instructed Booking.com to refund them in full.

Has your accommodation said that they won't refund you, or are you just going on the Booking.com T&Cs?

Eckhart · 22/09/2020 08:24

@Lunar567

What qualifies you to challenge the 'experts'? Or is that just your layman's opinion?

Bluesheep8 · 22/09/2020 08:26

I'm sorry but you are not telling a "white lie" , you are telling a premeditated lie in the middle of a pandemic (that could land you with a prison sentence where I live) and the posters here who urge you to go for it and ignore the people giving you sensible advice are the reason the UK is fucked. I have total sympathy with your situation but unfortunately right now that's how it is.

But she doesn't need to lie. She is legally allowed to go. It really is as simple as that. I am in a locally locked down areas and know for a fact that people are leaving the area for UK holidays. I'm not saying for one minute that I agree with it but it is legally allowed.

TheBlueStocking · 22/09/2020 08:27

I would also lie. The government hasn't taken accurate data from day one, so these lockdown areas are pretty much arbitrary.

MyDogSmells · 22/09/2020 08:29

OP, I'm not sure if you've replied already yet but my approach would be to reply that the local restrictions in your area permit travel to a self catering accommodation and you therefore intend to keep your booking.

If they reply that they don't want you despite your intention to use the booking then they have no choice but to refund you.

ceeveebee · 22/09/2020 08:30

@FlatandFabulous

I'm sorry but you are not telling a "white lie" , you are telling a premeditated lie in the middle of a pandemic (that could land you with a prison sentence where I live) and the posters here who urge you to go for it and ignore the people giving you sensible advice are the reason the UK is fucked. I have total sympathy with your situation but unfortunately right now that's how it is.
Totally untrue for Scotland and England. There are currently no restrictions on betting able to travel to a holiday cottage for any reason!
KaptainKaveman · 22/09/2020 08:30

@Rae34

My mental health is really suffering at the moment. It is just a few days and I'll soon be stuck inside during the dark months. Sad

I know I don't have the virus. You're saying plenty of people will be in my position, but a lot of those people will be with families they'll be able to see and spend time with regardless.

Have you just been tested? because unless you have, you absolutely do not "know I don't have the virus".

Everyone is 'suffering', not just you. We have all been forced into making sacrifices - and many of them a lot more serious than a couple of days at the seaside.

YABVVU.

DM0uze · 22/09/2020 08:38

Have you booked into a small cottage or a large hotel chain ?

Can you change it to a different type of accommodation ?

ShastaBeast · 22/09/2020 08:38

Just wait until later today. The whole country is about to be an area with restrictions. It makes no sense at all which areas are included, they just block out whole areas when some parts are super low.

See what the news is tonight and ask for a clarification of what they are asking for. If they won’t refund I’d be more inclined to lie because it doesn’t really make sense so is shitty to cancel you. And your mental health and low risk is definitely a factor.

saraclara · 22/09/2020 08:40

@KaptainKaveman OP is not required to make any sacrifice. What she plans to do is allowed. She is not breaching and guidelines or breaking any rules.

The company or the owner are asking for something entirely unreasonable. And there is no reason at all why OP should cancel her trip, never mind lose all her money.

Covid isn't a reason for people to make up their own rules. OP is abiding by everything the government is asking of her.

Higgeldypiggeldy35 · 22/09/2020 08:43

You don't KNOW you don't have the virus. 30% don't have any symptoms at all. I know that it's hard and you've obviously had a rubbish time but if everyone had your mentality about thinking they are ok and they won't spread the virus and go ahead with their plans regardless of rules then the whole country will be affected.

GetThatHelmetOn · 22/09/2020 08:44

Your mental health is a red herring- if you are struggling, then seek help for that from your GP or local counselling services.

PMSL, I was about to say don’t go, don’t break the rules but this sentence alone changed my mind completely.

You are risking a fine but it seems you are being extra careful, and are much less of a liability than all the twats getting into ilegal raves or partying the night away without regard to restrIctions that keep us all safe.

Go but stay well away from shops, museums, galleries or other little crowded places were you would be likely to pass the virus on.

RantAndDec · 22/09/2020 08:45

Please don't be selfish OP. Your hosts at the cottage deserve to know and be allowed to control what level of risk they're taking, as they'll be cleaning it after you. If you lie, you're taking away their control as regards to that. It's very dishonest and unfair.

So, so many people are struggling with MH now so I get it's difficult. But this is not the way. I think it would be very immoral.

GoldfishParade · 22/09/2020 08:46

@DM0uze Its literally right there in the OP. Seaside cottage.

GetThatHelmetOn · 22/09/2020 08:47

... that is because there is no way on Earth you are going to get the support you need from your GP or other specialist services at this time.

SockYarn · 22/09/2020 08:51

You don't KNOW you don't have the virus

255 cases out of 5.5 million people in Scotland yesterday. So that's 0.0046% of the population.

So there's a more than 99.99% chance that the OP does not have the virus. Even if you add in the people already infected and not diagnosed it's still 99% plus.

People are really shit at evaluating risk and probability.

Bluesheep8 · 22/09/2020 08:51

Please don't be selfish OP. Your hosts at the cottage deserve to know and be allowed to control what level of risk they're taking

Deserve to know what, exactly? That she is legally allowed to go? As I say, I don't agree with the law but it states that she can go. As a number of pps have said. Repeatedly.

Heyahun · 22/09/2020 08:51

If they cancel then you have to Be refunded - tell the truth let them cancel and book somewhere else.

Higgeldypiggeldy35 · 22/09/2020 08:58

@sockyarn I didn't say it was a high chance she had the virus but I'm fed up of people saying they KNOW they don't have it. They can't know. She's living in a lockdown area so there's a slightly higher chance she has it compared to someone not in a lockdown area. The numbers might be small but there's still a risk. And those stats you gave are for people tested. People with no symptoms won't be being tested and even if you do have symptoms trying to get a test is pot luck so I am very sceptical about the accuracy of those figures. They're bound to be higher.

Eckhart · 22/09/2020 09:00

@SockYarn

By your expert probability calculations, we can all ignore the virus, because of the unlikelihood of any individual actually carrying it.

Probably it'll be alright, yeah?

ceeveebee · 22/09/2020 09:02

Stats yesterday from the scientists were that they estimate 70,000 people currently have COVID across the whole of the UK - that’s 0.1%. So even if OPs area is 10 x the national average that’s only 1%...